I have no complaint with your wording, and if you agree with the rest, then I think we are in fact on the same page, what a blessing!
What does it mean to you to abide in Christ? How do we do that?
Much love!
Why I Warn, and Why I Won’t Stop
- Thread starter RenewedStrength316
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What does it mean to you to abide in Christ? How do we do that?
Much love!
Nameaboveallnames
Member
I think that we find the answer to this question in some Old Testament imagery.
When the children of Israel first thirsted during their wilderness journeys, God instructed Moses to smite the rock, which we know was a type of Christ (1 Cor. 10:4), to satisfy their thirst. Similarly, our initial thirst for righteousness is quenched when we come to the smitten Christ and are born again of his Spirit.
When the children of Israel thirsted thereafter during their wilderness journeys, God instructed Moses to speak to the rock that it might quench the thirst of the Israelites. Of course, Moses got angry, and he smote the rock a second time, and God was sorely displeased with him. Why? Because in smiting the rock a second time, Moses broke the typology that God was seeking to convey unto the Israelites. In other words, we know from scripture that Christ will not be crucified afresh, which is what the second smiting of the rock implied. Instead, after we have come to the smitten Christ to quench our initial thirst, thereafter, we need to speak to Christ, through prayer, or to have daily communion with him. In this way, I believe that we best "abide in Christ" because he is never going to instruct us to do anything contrary to walking in true righteousness and holiness.
Of course, things like reading the Bible are important as well.
Context is very important when reading the scriptures and we cannot ringfence one portion of the scriptures and provide an interpretation of that ringfenced portion of the scriptures without considering the whole of the scriptures to come to the right understanding.
If then, we are a person in whom the light has filled our life with Christ's glory, then whenever an opportunity comes a knocking to us, we should share the light within us when that opportunity comes our way.
Sadly, we often fall short of what we claim is within us because we hold onto grievances with other people or consider that our "knowledge/understanding is far superior to theirs and as such we need to correct their knowledge/understanding to conform to ours.
If there is no forgiveness in our heart for others who have/might have offended us, then the light is not within us, and our saltiness has gone astray, and the light is no longer within us, and we also stumble.
If a brother among the Saints has stumbled, then we should pray for that brother in Christ, that God will continue to draw that brother to Himself so that the stumble becomes of no consequence for him if he will repent his sin to God.
Yes, we are told that when a brother stumbles that we should approach him in love gently to help him back to God's pathway to salvation. But so often our approach is to lord it over our brother and commit the sins that God has told us not to commit.
The primary sin that we commit in this situation is that we begin to act God like towards our fallen brother, rather than to simply commit our concerns for the brother to God to deal with.
Because we commit this primary sin and we lose God's moral compass for our lives, we will experience the manifestation of other secondary sins that if we consider them, indicates to us that we have also turned from God and also need redemption.
Much wisdom is needed to be able to follow God's leading in all that we do while worshipping God with our life.
Shalom
If then, we are a person in whom the light has filled our life with Christ's glory, then whenever an opportunity comes a knocking to us, we should share the light within us when that opportunity comes our way.
Sadly, we often fall short of what we claim is within us because we hold onto grievances with other people or consider that our "knowledge/understanding is far superior to theirs and as such we need to correct their knowledge/understanding to conform to ours.
If there is no forgiveness in our heart for others who have/might have offended us, then the light is not within us, and our saltiness has gone astray, and the light is no longer within us, and we also stumble.
If a brother among the Saints has stumbled, then we should pray for that brother in Christ, that God will continue to draw that brother to Himself so that the stumble becomes of no consequence for him if he will repent his sin to God.
Yes, we are told that when a brother stumbles that we should approach him in love gently to help him back to God's pathway to salvation. But so often our approach is to lord it over our brother and commit the sins that God has told us not to commit.
The primary sin that we commit in this situation is that we begin to act God like towards our fallen brother, rather than to simply commit our concerns for the brother to God to deal with.
Because we commit this primary sin and we lose God's moral compass for our lives, we will experience the manifestation of other secondary sins that if we consider them, indicates to us that we have also turned from God and also need redemption.
Much wisdom is needed to be able to follow God's leading in all that we do while worshipping God with our life.
Shalom
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